WOW! What a game, huh? Air Forcier hits Matthews with 11 seconds remaining to win the shootout over Notre Dame. It was the highest scoring game in the history of the UM-ND series and will go down as a classic.

I know that he's a freshman and he's going to make mistakes, but I've been very impressed with Tate Forcier. The main thing for me is that he's shown more poise in two games than Chad Henne showed in four years at Michigan. Many of you know how much I hated Henne, and it was mostly because of his lack of poise and awareness in the pocket. Forcier doesn't have that problem at all. The only problem that I have with the offense is that they need to use Brandon Minor in a power running role more often. He's successful nearly every time that they call it, so they ought to use it much more frequently.

The defense still concerns me, particularly the secondary, but they may have just faced the strongest offense they will see all year. Cissoko was burnt repeatedly all day long and he almost cost them the game by dropping a sure interception. Hopefully, the kid will improve or else Michigan could be in trouble. I also feel that some of the defensive playcalling is still suspect. Clausen obviously got rattled whenever he faced pressure, but UM insisted upon sitting back in zone and only rushing three for most of the game. What's wrong with dialing up more blitzes or rushing atleast four? That's something that should probably change.

GO BLUE!!!!

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September 13th, 2009, 10:09 am

Blueskies

Player of the Year - Offense

Joined: September 13th, 2007, 12:43 pmPosts: 2836

I was at the game yesterday. The stadium was rocking.

The offense is not setup for power running, and if they used it more often it would fail. I think its only successful because they rarely ever use, and thus when they do it catches the defense by surprise.

Cissoko was playing hurt, and was put on an island against ND's #1 receiver for most of the game. That said, I believe the defensive front is much more to blame than the secondary--the only time they got pressure was when they rushed two linebackers. Clausen had all day to throw.

Michigan rolled to a 3-0 record after a 45-17 win against Eastern Michigan. The running attack was unstoppable with 380 yards, but the passing game (especially with Robinson under center) just didn't click. All in all though, it was a fairly solid game by the offense.

The defense, on the other hand, is still putrid. EMU marched up and down the field and would have scored more if not for their own miscues. I know it isn't going to happen, but RichRod needs to discard the 3-3-5 scheme. Teams are easily running through the D line and they aren't getting any kind of pass rush. They could help fix that by starting Campbell at DT along side Martin, with Graham and Roh playing DE, but I don't expect to see it.

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September 19th, 2009, 3:51 pm

steensn

RIP Killer

Joined: June 26th, 2006, 1:03 pmPosts: 13429

I was getting nervous, at least the first half. MI defense is not scarig anyone for sure. EMU is the worst team in DIV 1.

Even though they won 36-33, that was one hell of a crappy performance against Indiana today. The defense was just as brutal as ever, but atleast they benched Cissoko. I can only hope that it's permanent since he couldn't cover his grandmother. The rest of the team is just undersized and simply can't tackle. If they can hold anyone from the Big Ten under 30 points for the rest of the year, I'll be surprised.

As for the offense, that certainly was a circus out there today. Losing their starting center hurt immensely since his back-up doesn't know how to snap. I counted five bad snaps, but there may have been more. The pre-snap penalties, turnovers, sacks, and dropped passes didn't help any either. To make matters worse, Tate Forcier obviously has a throwing arm or shoulder injury. I just hope that it isn't serious enough to miss any games.

Well, that was yet another piss poor coaching display by RichRod against Iowa. I could bitch and moan about a number of things, but I'll just focus on one. Why in the hell would you play Denard Robinson, down by 2, with no timeouts, and only 1:30 left in the game? It's an obvious passing situation and Robinson couldn't complete a downfield pass to save his life. Predictably, he threw an interception to end the game. RichRod has done a lot of dumb things since he's come to Michigan, but I have to rank that one near the top.

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October 11th, 2009, 10:40 am

conversion02

RIP Killer

Joined: January 26th, 2005, 9:34 pmPosts: 10457Location: Sycamore, IL

both qbs sucked donkey balls yesterday.

RR put Robinson in because he had the wheels to run for the first when his first reads weren't open. Not that I support the decision to put in a cold, 2nd string, freshman QB to handle the 2 minute drill in the 4th quarter...but I have little faith that Forcier would have done anything differently.

Michigan this year is not a "good" team. They're young at nearly every position, and the system is still not fully implemented. The fact that they almost beat a top 12 team at home is great in itself.

I'm calling it now: Michigan wins the National Title in two years.

As for the Robinson switch: Tate was playing terrible and he wasn't accepting it as his fault. If it was up to me, I would've left him in, but I understand the movie. Robinson did get them that last TD to pull it within two.

Also, they seemed to rush more than three a lot more this week, but with little success. The defensive issues are clearly just a lack of talent. They can't execute their zones whatsoever and they miss tackles constantly.

October 11th, 2009, 6:26 pm

jomo269

NFL Team Captain

Joined: January 27th, 2005, 9:12 pmPosts: 1610Location: Midland, MI

Did anybody else notice RichRod coming unglued on Tate several times and then having his arm around Robinson consoling him after the Int.

What a jackass

I wonder if Ron English would come back for the HC job.

October 11th, 2009, 7:25 pm

Blueskies

Player of the Year - Offense

Joined: September 13th, 2007, 12:43 pmPosts: 2836

Oh and more on topic: If you think the QB switch is what lost that game, then you clearly didn't watch it. How about the five turnovers?

Blueskies, I haven't forgotten about the five turnovers, which is ultimately what cost them the game. It's amazing that they were still in it at the end because of them. My point is that RichRod gave them less of a chance to win it in the final 1:30 by playing Robinson over Forcier. That was a huge mistake IMO.

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October 12th, 2009, 11:03 am

Blueskies

Player of the Year - Offense

Joined: September 13th, 2007, 12:43 pmPosts: 2836

slybri19 wrote:

Blueskies, I haven't forgotten about the five turnovers, which is ultimately what cost them the game. It's amazing that they were still in it at the end because of them. My point is that RichRod gave them less of a chance to win it in the final 1:30 by playing Robinson over Forcier. That was a huge mistake IMO.